Anti-Spam Two Step for Webmasters

If your email address is on a website that's been online for a while you're being blasted with unsolicited email (SPAM). You can delete it or you can eliminate much of it in two simple steps.

Step 1: Scramble Your Email Address

It isn't human visitors to your site that are causing problem. It's website spidering SPAMBOTS. These spambots go out on web and harvest any email address they can find. These harvested email addresses are then sold by unscrupulous *spam pushers*.

Your goal is to hide your email address from spambots, but still display it for your website visitors to see. If spambot doesn't recogize your scrambled code as an email address it won't harvest it.

Search web for scripts that will scramble your email address. You will find many free scripts and some that you can purchase. Some are simple and easy to install. Others can be a little more complicated.

The one that I like is called EScrambler. It is a free script developed by InnerPeace.org. You can visit their site and copy source code (permission given on site). Or, go to http://www.webdesignwisdom.com/escrambler.shtml.

This simple script generates a javascript that scrambles your email address. Just copy script and paste it in your HTML instead of normal mailto:me@mydomain.com. Your email address is displayed properly for visitors to see, and HTML looks like anything but an email address.

An example of *me@mydomain.com* in escrambled form:

Step 2: Send Spam to Your Auto-Delete Account

New Spam Prevention Product that Works!

Written by Lee Traupel

Businesses and consumers are drowning in a never-ending deluge of Spam (junk mail) – according to reports just released by Quris, Inc. Spam has increased 450% from June of 2001 to now. Furthermore, 70% of respondents indicated they are receiving so much e-mail in form of Spam that it’s negating their acceptance and responsiveness to legitimate opt-in e-mail messages (permission based). The average business user is forced to spend 20-30 minutes a day wading through Spam clogged e-mail in-boxes trying to separate legitimate e-mail from junk in order to delete latter.

Many companies have tried to offer Spam solutions that are based primarily on filtering technology. But, most of these products and services have not worked well in practice – ingenious spammers have learned work arounds by constantly changing their fake e-mail addresses and text to avoid blocking filters. It’s been a war of attrition to date and spammers have been wining so far!

I am pleased to report that one company has developed an elegant but simple solution that has blocked 100% of Spam that was sent to me during a test period of five days. The company is DigiPortal Software, Inc. www.digiportal.com and their Spam killer application is called ChoiceMail. It works extremely well, is easy to setup and only costs $29.95 (introductory price) and they even offer a fourteen-day trial period for no charge to test drive product. And, solution runs on your desktop and does not necessitate your working with a third party server and doesn’t require any service charges. Most importantly, it puts burden of proof on Spammers, forcing them to have your permission to contact you.

Here is how DigiPortal’s clever solution and software work: You download or purchase software and install it on your PC (sorry PC version only right now) and setup your approval list by exporting your address book. From that point forward ChoiceMail automatically assumes all inbound e-mail is Spam and it blocks any e-mail that is not on an approved list that you have created.

If e-mail sender is on your approved list it makes it through to your inbox; if not, then ChoiceMail blocks mail if address and adds it to a rejection list and sends sender a notification that your on a “permission network” and that he/she has to clickthrough to a web site and send you a message by filling out a form that automatically forwards person’s message to you, so you can elect to receive or not.